2YC students from a 4YC chair's perspective

Matthew Schwartz, University of West Florida

As chairperson of a four year college department of
Environmental Studies, I have two main types of interaction with 2YC
students: 1) I have worked directly with
2YC students via a course designed as part of a collaborative ATE research
grant and 2) we accept many 2YC students as transfers into University of West
Florida. In the aforementioned Aquatic
Environmental sciences course, we worked to provide field instruction
supplementing my co-PI's classroom lectures related to sampling and analytical
methods related to coastal and estuarine systems, while also introducing
students to the application of Geographic Information Science (GIS). That project funding has been completed;
however, we intend to expand the project to continue its goals in coming years.

As the chairperson of the Department of Environmental
studies at University of West Florida, I see transfers from a number of 2YC
programs in the region. We have
established articulation agreements with one of these 2YC programs with a goal
to highlighting academic requirements of the 4YC degree before the students
arrive at University of West Florida. I
am exploring the idea of conducting dedicated outreach and advising sessions
with 2YC programs to explicitly address the requirements for their intended BS
in Environmental Studies (particularly those quantitative prerequisites such as
Chemistry and Mathematics courses), to recruit students to the BS in Environmental
Studies, and to discuss career options related to such a degree.